Learn Hardcore Malay: Barulah saya sedar bahawa hobi kecil seperti berkelah dan mengumpul poskad boleh mengurangkan tekanan saya. - Only then do I realize that small hobbies like picnicking and collecting postcards can reduce my stress.

Saya sedar bahawa … = I realize / I realized that … (a plain statement of realization).
Barulah saya sedar bahawa … = Only then did I realize that … or That’s when I finally realized that …

So barulah:

Emphasizes a change or a late realization.
Often appears at the beginning of a sentence or clause for emphasis.

Without barulah, the sentence is still correct but loses that feeling of “finally / only then.”

What is the role of bahawa in this sentence? Can I leave it out?

Bahawa works like English that in sentences such as “I realized that hobbies like…”.

Saya sedar bahawa hobi kecil seperti …
= I realized that small hobbies such as …

You can usually omit bahawa in everyday speech, especially when the sentence is not too long or formal:

Barulah saya sedar hobi kecil seperti berkelah dan mengumpul poskad boleh mengurangkan tekanan saya.

Meaning stays the same.
Difference:

With bahawa: feels a bit more formal, careful, or written.
Without bahawa: more casual, conversational.

Why is it hobi kecil and not just hobi? What nuance does kecil add?

Hobi kecil literally means small hobbies, but kecil here is more about scale/importance than physical size.

hobi = hobbies (neutral)
hobi kecil = little hobbies / small-scale hobbies, often implying:
- simple,
- not expensive,
- not time-consuming,
- not “serious” or “big” projects.

So the sentence suggests that even these little, simple hobbies (like picnicking and collecting postcards) can reduce the speaker’s stress, not only grand or impressive hobbies.

You could say just hobi, but you’d lose that nuance of “small/simple” hobbies.

What does seperti do here? Is it the same as “like” or “such as”?

Yes, seperti here means like / such as.

hobi kecil seperti berkelah dan mengumpul poskad
= small hobbies such as having picnics and collecting postcards

Other points:

seperti is quite neutral and widely used in both spoken and written Malay.
You may also see antaranya, contohnya, or misalnya (meaning “among them”, “for example”), but in this sentence seperti is the natural choice before examples.

What are berkelah and mengumpul grammatically? Why do they start with ber- and meng-?

Both berkelah and mengumpul are verbs with common verb prefixes:

berkelah
- Root: kelah (picnic – now mostly used with the prefix)
- Prefix: ber-
- Meaning: to picnic / to go on a picnic / to be picnicking
- ber- often forms intransitive verbs (no direct object), often meaning “to do/have/be in a state of …”.
mengumpul
- Root: kumpul (to gather/collect)
- Prefix: meng-
- Meaning: to collect / to gather
- meng- (a form of meN-) usually forms active transitive verbs that take a direct object:
  - mengumpul poskad = to collect postcards

So in the phrase berkelah dan mengumpul poskad, we have:

berkelah (intransitive activity: picnicking)
mengumpul poskad (transitive activity: collecting postcards)

Why is it mengumpul poskad and not mengumpul poskad-poskad to show “postcards” in plural?

Malay normally does not need a plural marker if the context already suggests plurality.

poskad can mean postcard (singular) or postcards (plural), depending on context.
Activities like mengumpul poskad obviously involve more than one postcard, so no extra marking is needed.

Forms like:

poskad-poskad (reduplication)
banyak poskad (many postcards)
semua poskad (all the postcards)

are used only when you need to emphasize or clarify plurality or quantity. Here, it’s natural and standard to just say mengumpul poskad.

What does boleh add here? Could we replace it with dapat, and what’s the difference?

Boleh is a modal verb meaning can / may / is able to.

… hobi kecil … boleh mengurangkan tekanan saya.
= … small hobbies … can reduce my stress.

In this kind of “general truth” or “effect” sentence, boleh is:

Very common and natural.
Suggests possibility or capability: these hobbies are able to reduce my stress.

You could use dapat:

… hobi kecil … dapat mengurangkan tekanan saya.

Nuance:

boleh: “can”, often broader, sometimes includes permission in other contexts.
dapat: closer to “is/are able to / manage to / succeed in”, sometimes sounds a bit more factual/result-focused.

In this sentence, both are acceptable; boleh is probably the more neutral choice.

What exactly does mengurangkan mean, and how is it formed?

Mengurangkan means to reduce / to lessen / to lower (something).

Formation:

Root: kurang = less / lacking / not enough.
Suffix: -kan
Prefix: meng- (from meN-)

So:

kurang (adjective/adverb): less
mengurang (rare, non-standard in many contexts)
mengurangkan (standard verb): to make something less = to reduce it.

In the sentence:

mengurangkan tekanan saya
= to reduce my stress (to make my stress go down).

What does tekanan mean here? Is it always “stress”?

Tekanan literally means pressure.

Depending on context, it can mean:

Physical pressure (e.g., air pressure, blood pressure).
Psychological pressure / mental stress (as in this sentence).

Here, tekanan saya is understood as my stress / the pressure I feel, because we’re talking about hobbies reducing something negative in a personal context.

You might also see more specific phrases like:

tekanan perasaan = emotional pressure
tekanan kerja = work pressure/stress

But tekanan saya is natural and clearly means my stress in this context.

Why is it tekanan saya (noun + pronoun) instead of something like stres saya or saya punya tekanan?

Several options are possible, but they differ in tone and naturalness:

tekanan saya
- Standard, neutral, and natural.
- Literally: my pressure / my stress.
stres saya
- Also possible and understandable.
- stres is a loanword from English; common in conversation.
- Slightly more informal/modern.
saya punya tekanan
- Literally: the pressure that I have.
- Grammatically understandable, but sounds informal and sometimes childlike or emphasis-heavy in standard Malay.
- Usually used when strongly emphasizing possession, or in certain dialects.

In a normal written or semi-formal sentence like this, tekanan saya is the most natural and standard choice.

Can I change the word order, like putting the hobbies first: Hobi kecil seperti berkelah dan mengumpul poskad barulah saya sedar …?

You can move elements around for emphasis, but you must be careful not to make the sentence sound odd.

Your suggested version:

Hobi kecil seperti berkelah dan mengumpul poskad barulah saya sedar bahawa boleh mengurangkan tekanan saya.

This is awkward in Malay, mainly because:

barulah saya sedar naturally starts its own clause.
After bahawa, we need a clear subject for boleh mengurangkan tekanan saya (here it’s hobi kecil …).

More natural alternatives:

Original structure (best):
- Barulah saya sedar bahawa hobi kecil seperti berkelah dan mengumpul poskad boleh mengurangkan tekanan saya.
Emphasizing the hobbies (less common, but possible):
- Hobi kecil seperti berkelah dan mengumpul poskad rupanya boleh mengurangkan tekanan saya. Barulah saya sedar.

So: keep Barulah saya sedar bahawa … together as in the original sentence for the smoothest, most natural flow.